3 Seconds Too Late
by TheDarkPlume
Summary: AU Season 7. Set during Episode 2, instead of the Heretics kidnapping Caroline after Malcolm's death, Stefan is taken instead. What does this change of events mean for Damon's co-conspirator Bonnie? Some OOC.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Suppose in S7, Episode 2, it was Stefan who was kidnapped instead of Caroline. AU**

 **Disclaimer:** The characters within this story are the property of LJ Smith & The CW.

 **Rated M: Pervasive Language, Bloodplay, Main Character Deaths, Torture & Sexual Content.**

Lyrics: Acquainted by The Weeknd.

 _ **3 Seconds Too Late**_

 _Baby you're no good_

 _Cause they warned me bout your type girl_

 _I've been ducking left and right_

 _Baby you're no good_

 _Think I fell for you, I fell for you, I fell for you_

Bonnie Bennett swayed gently to the music her cousin Lucy recommended she buy last month. His name is Abel Tesfaye, but his stage name is The Weeknd. She was in her newly claimed bedroom in Klaus's old mansion of all places. After Stefan and Lily struck the new deal surrendering over the Salvatore Boarding House in exchange for the evacuation of Mystic Falls, there weren't a lot of options left for where they could all live and live together. Klaus's mansion was the ideal choice, so the gang left it to Caroline to be the go-between.

To everyone's surprise, Bonnie chose Kol's bedroom. Her official explanation being that aside from Finn's, Kol's bedroom was the least lived in. Unofficially, well...the Other Side wasn't always misery.

"So, to clarify...this ISN'T a date?" Caroline asked her last remaining best friend as she watched her pace in her underwear comparing dresses.

The beautiful witch sighed. "No, Care. This is just Damon's way of blowing off steam while we're waiting for Lily and her Heretics to strike back. Oh, and Stefan's wonderful idea to evict us from the boarding house-"

"I'm sensing sarcasm."

"You can imagine the toll it's taking on Damon to live on Klaus's dime." Bonnie stared at her friend in quiet contemplation. "How exactly did you convince Klaus to let us move in here, anyway? 'Cause, ah, we've tried to kill each other more times than I can count, he hates Damon, and whatever bromance Klaus had with Stefan ended the moment Stefan set his sights on you."

Caroline huffed and had she been alive, she would have blushed. "I didn't sleep with him again if that's what you mean. You don't honestly think I'm that much of a sucker for a handsome face, do you?"

"Those are some killer dimples," Bonnie said, seriously.

"Oh, god, you've been spending too much time with Damon. I just asked him nicely if we could move in here until the rest of the Heretics are killed and because it was a matter of my safety, he agreed." Caroline bit her lip. "Do you really think we can kill the rest?"

Bonnie stared at her friend with unwavering conviction. "We don't have any other choice."

"And Elena?" Caroline asked gently. "Do you think that maybe Damon's taking this as an opportunity to distract himself from thinking about your link to her?"

Bonnie bit her lip to keep her face from falling. "Maybe so. But even if he is, I owe him this, Care."

Caroline's eyes narrowed. "You don't owe Damon Salvatore a goddamn thing, Bonnie Bennett. He can't fault you for what Kai did."

Bonnie inwardly winced. She didn't like thinking about Kai. Thinking about Kai meant thinking about what she could have done differently.

 _"You betrayed Kai, he let them out, and I got to bury all my buddies from the Sheriff's department."_

That hurt her more than she wanted to admit.

"Bonnie?" Caroline called softly. "Matt didn't mean it. He was just upset. You weren't there that day. So many people died. Innocent people. It was like Alaric and Jo's Wedding Part 2: The Heretic Edition," she shuddered.

Bonnie averted her eyes, determined not to let herself remember the furious look in Kai's eyes the night of the wedding, the way his fingers ghosted across her face as she lay choking on her own blood moments before Damon's arrival. _"You were the closest I ever came to loving someone, Bonnie..."_

Caroline sensed Bonnie's inner turmoil. "I like the black one...but that's more of a little black dress made for a date, and this isn't a date, right?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, resolving to keep Kai out of her thoughts for the night. "Damon and I aren't dating. I could never do that to Elena."

"Despite Elena telling Damon to live, date, and be happy while she's sleeping?"

"Caroline."

"Okay," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "Okay, leaving it alone." She looked at the dresses with a more critical eye. "I'm thinking the black or the red. Where's he taking you anyway?"

"Somewhere in town, maybe?"

"Maybe?" Caroline echoed, dubious.

"He wasn't exactly specific. He just said we were doing something fun and to be ready at 7."

"That's comforting."

"Damon doesn't want to risk traveling so far away when we're still waiting for the Heretics to make a move."

"That makes sense, I suppose," she grudgingly admitted. "They have been quiet lately."

"You worry too much, Care."

"How can I not? Every second you're alone with him, I'm terrified Stefan or Matt's going to call and tell me Elena's awake." Caroline's silent fear didn't go unnoticed. "I can't lose you again, Bonnie. I just can't."

Bonnie pulled her friend into a hug, momentarily disregarding her own partial nudity. "Nothing is going to happen to me. Even though it's hurting him, Damon won't let anything stop me from living out my natural life."

"If you say so," Caroline mumbled, still feeling unsure.

"I do say so." She pulled back, discreetly drying her eyes. It touched Bonnie that Caroline would rather have her around for the next sixty years than see Elena awake tomorrow. "Now enough tears. Make me pretty," she demanded.

Caroline laughed. "As if you need anyone's help with that." Surprisingly, Caroline didn't pick red strapless or the blue romper. "I think this will go nicely with whatever Damon has planned."

At exactly 7, Damon knocked on Bonnie's bedroom door. The green-eyed little witch couldn't stop the corners of her mouth drawing up into a blinding smile at Damon standing on the other side. He had shed his leather jacket for the occasion in exchange for a crisp black suit and matching undershirt. His shaggy hair was neatly brushed and still damp from the shower. His crystal blue eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Hi, Damon," she said, stepping forward to hug him briefly.

"Hi, Bonnie." He pulled back, letting his eyes travel over her with just the slightest leer that had Bonnie inwardly preening. Caroline's choice was in fact the little black chiffon ruffled dress with a belted waist, paired with a pair of Rebekah's Christian Louboutin Carlota strappy platform pumps. Caroline had given her ringlets over her natural waves and kept her makeup simple with Kohl eyeliner and two coats of red lipstick. She kept her grandmother's ring on and added the diamond droplet earrings her father gave her the Christmas before his murder. "You look nice, oh and look, with the heels you almost reach my chin."

Even knowing it would only feel like the tickle of a feather, Bonnie placed a well aimed punch against Damon's shoulder.

"Hey, I am not that short."

"Sure you're not," he mocked.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "You look nice too, by the way. What's behind your back?"

"Nothing," he lied.

Bonnie's eyes narrowed playfully. "You're lying." She reached behind him, but Damon dodged away from her using, his preternatural speed. "Come on, what is it?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." Damon pulled a bouquet of blue tulips.

Bonnie gave Damon a dazzling smile. "My favorites!" she plucked the bouquet from his hand and sniffed them. "Thank you, Damon." She quickly conjured a vase, filled it with water, and dropped the bouquet in so they wouldn't start to wilt.

"I love watching you practice."

Bonnie looked over her shoulders, giving Damon an incredulous look. "Since when?"

"I've always liked watching you do your witchy woo, Bennett."

"Oh, yeah, Salvatore? Because I seem to recall you whining about it taking too long."

"Ah, you know I tend to get fussy without my bourbon," he said, flippantly. "Are you ready?"

Bonnie's eyes sparkled excitedly. "Where are we going?"

Damon shook his head. "Nuh-unh, a surprise is a surprise, Bon-Bon."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but took Damon's hand, closing the door to her bedroom. Bonnie noticed Damon's distasteful glance towards her closed door. "What?"

"I just can't understand why you picked that dick's room out of all the other rooms in the mansion."

"We've discussed this. Kol's room is the best choice for me because I would rather die than sleep in Klaus's bed, just the thought of Elijah makes me want to break something, Caroline already claimed Rebekah's room because of the makeup and jewelry she left behind, and well, Kol had the most comfortable bed. Even better than yours actually."

Damon looked affronted. "No way Kol Mikaelson's bed is better than mine."

"Yeah huh," she childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

Damon spun Bonnie around so that she was between him and the wall. "Then maybe you ought to invite me in there one of these days and show me."

Bonnie could feel Damon's subtle teasing shift into something less innocent.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Bonnie laughed it off and quickly ducked out from under his arm. "Keep dreaming, Salvatore."

"You'll change your mind one day, Bennett."

They continued to bicker over nonsense as he led her to the attic.

"This is actually kind of spooky."

"Relax, Bonnie. You've got me to protect you."

"Hence the spooky part."

Damon let go of Bonnie's hand, leaving her floundering in the cold, darkened room. "I smell popcorn," she said, suddenly. "Damon?"

The lights flickered on quickly, discomforting her eyes. Once she adjusted, Bonnie could only stare in awe.

"When did you do all this?"

The attic had been converted into a small movie theater with a huge white screen hanging against the back wall. Instead of the conventional theater chairs, there were eight rows of seven large black leather chairs. Behind the rows were an old-fashioned red and gold portable popcorn stand, a small sliding door freezer filled with assorted ice creams, and an actual drink fountain.

"I didn't," he answered simply. "Blondie gave me the keys last night. I only needed to pop fresh popcorn, change out the drinks, and restock the ice cream bar. Rebekah apparently talked Klaus into building this for Finn and Kol who had missed the advent of modern cinema."

Bonnie looked at the chairs closely. The last row had all five Originals names etched in ornate gold lettering on the backs of the chairs.

"That was...thoughtful of him," she said, her eyes lingering wistfully on his name.

"It would have been had they stayed civil long enough to use it. And, well, you know, _lived_."

Bonnie ignored Damon's caustic remarks on his loathing for all things Mikaelson.

"Boy, I bet Stefan could make a romantic date for Caroline up here." Damon's expression visibly darkened. "What?"

"Stefan isn't exactly speaking at the moment."

Bonnie bit her lip and shuffled closer to Damon. "He's still mad about the broken deal with Lily and the Heretics?"

Damon hummed noncommittally. His jaw ticked and his eyes blazed as if he was thinking something unpleasant.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she said softly, slipping her hand in his.

Damon's eyes shifted down towards their joined hands. Her hands were so little compared to his, but he of all people knew her small stature was almost purposely deceptive.

"Not tonight," he answered, finally.

"But soon?" she pressed.

"Soon," he promised, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Tonight," he said, lifting her off her feet earning a startled squeal from the witch. "Just relax." He sat her down in the second to last row, skipping the engraved seats to her small relief. "And enjoy the show."

The lights dimmed until the room was again plunged into darkness. The screen started up and the classic 5...4...3...2...countdown appeared. Bonnie clapped in delight as that familiar tune announced that they would be watching one of her top five favorite films.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Damon, I love it!"

"I knew you would." Damon took a seat beside her, passing her a large bucket of popcorn, a small cherry coke, and a chocolate eclair. "Hey, don't hog all the popcorn, Bennett."

"Should have gotten your own, Salvatore," she said even as she passed him the bucket to open her ice cream bar.

"Why can't you be awesome like Harry?" Damon complained when Harry did a nosedive on his broom to chase the snitch and then pulled up at the very last moment at his first Quidditch match.

"I think I'd rather be Hermione," Bonnie admitted as the curly haired child set Professor Snape's robes on fire.

Even with Damon's teasing of little kids from England being cooler than her, Bonnie could admit that it was easily one of the best night in her life thus far.

"That was so much fun, Damon. Thank you." Bonnie sighed. After they had restored Klaus's theater back to its former spotless glory, she knew they would have to get the rest of the gang together for a movie night up there.

"The night's not over yet." He led her to the dining room, reveling in her startled gasp. "We _are_ celebrating the death of one of Lily's freaks, after all."

Before Damon removed it, there used to be an obscenely large table that was fit for a king's banquet hall. Now there was a single cloth covered roundtable centered under the candlelit chandelier. The room was pleasantly warm in contrast to the cold attic due to the burning fireplace in the other room. There were two chairs at the table and he had placed a single red rose in a vase between the two tin covered dishes. Between the warmth and the flickering candlelights glinting off the chandelier crystals, the room both looked and felt like an intimate dinner between lovers rather than friends.

Bonnie gulped heavily, looking at Damon with wide eyes, confusion and excitement warring in their green depths.

"A celebration, remember?" He ushered her over and pulled out a chair for her.

"I guess I wasn't really expecting you to do all of this."

Bonnie watched Damon take his seat across from her as she fiddled nervously with her hands.

"Stop over thinking it. It's dinner, not a proposal." He reached across the table and lifted the lid, enjoying the wide curving smile she wore as she surveyed her dish. "Chicken Parmesan Baked Ziti with cheesy breadsticks and salad. Your favorite, right?"

"This is a big step up from pancakes, Salvatore."

Damon glowered playfully. "You wish you could make pancakes as delicious as mine, Bennett."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"I almost forgot the wine."

"Wine?" she said as he made to leave the table. "I thought we were drinking bourbon."

"Bonnie," Damon said, sticking his head back in the doorway. "I'm not _that_ uncivilized that I can't provide my bff with the only beverage naturally paired with pasta."

The instant Damon left Bonnie, his happy, carefree facade was wiped away, leaving in its wake a desperate brother and forlorn lover. He put his hands on the kitchen countertop letting his mother's words wash over him.

 _"Your brother is in tremendous pain, Damon. Won't you end his suffering?"_

 _Stefan hung limply by his wrists in the basement of their boardinghouse. He had been stripped naked, beaten, tortured, and disgustingly enough fed on. Lily's remaining freaks were scattered around the room watching them silently._

 _"Let Stefan go," Damon demanded, just barely reining in his need to attack. He had nothing to do with Malcolm. I killed your little freakshow son, not Stefan."_

 _Lily's eyes flashed lividly, murderously, before she regained her docile mein. "Yes, you and the witch murdered my child." Lily's sharp eyes caught Damon's posture go rigid when she mentioned Bonnie. "Tell me, Damon, how far are you willing to go to save your brother?"_

"Damon!" Bonnie called, bringing him back to the present. "If you don't hurry back I'm going to start without you!"

"Go on, I'll be right there!" He pulled the small baggie of ground sedatives from his pocket, still unsure if he could go through with it.

 _"Just think, not only will you have Stefan safe and sound, but your beloved Elena will be yours once and for all. The only thing standing between you and the love of your life is Bonnie Bennett, and compared to Elena, what is she to you? The best friend? The savior? The catalyst in Kai's revenge for that stunning bit of betrayal? Sshh!" Lily closed her eyes and swayed like her namesake caught in a summer's breeze. "Do you hear it? Kai screaming Bonnie's name, all but begging her not to abandon him? Why, had she not trapped him in yet another prison world, Josette and Alaric would be proud parents now, poor young Tyler Lockwood would not be running wild and Elena would be in your arms rather than locked inside a cold coffin while you watch the sand fall through the hour glass of her 60 year confinement. Who will it be, Damon? Your suffering brother and slumbering lover? Or your Bennett witch who has led you all to your ruin? The choice is yours..."_

Damon's hand shook as he emptied the white powder into the bottle of Pinot Noir.

Bonnie was a fourth of a way through her pasta by the time Damon returned. Her cheeks were puffed comically as she chewed, looking like an adorable chipmunk.

"What took you so long?"

Damon shook his head and settled across from her. "You have to let it breathe," he said, patiently. He glanced down at her plate and sucked his teeth. "I still can't see where you put it all."

Bonnie chewed proudly, holding out her glass to him. "To the awesomeness that is the Bennett Metabolism."

He filled her glass and then his own saying, "here, here!" He pretended to take a drink, knowing that Bonnie trusted him too much to see through his act. _You can either resent me or love me. Either way, you're stuck with me._ "Bonnie," he stopped her before she could drink the tainted wine. Her wide, trusting green eyes gazed into his. "Drink up," he said through his guilt. "But save room for dessert."

"Dessert?" she pouted. "I've already eaten so much. What is it?" she said, her smile growing.

"Strawberry cheesecake," he answered proudly.

"Let me guess, Entenmann's or Sara Lee?"

"Don't insult me, Bennett," he huffed. "I went to the Cheesecake Factory."

Bonnie shook her head in faux sadness. "A 140+ year old Italian vampire who can cook like no one's business is an absolute disaster when it comes to desserts. Oh, the shame!"

Damon glowered playfully. "Just drink your wine."

Bonnie took a slow, savoring sip from her glass, sighing in satisfaction. She opened her eyes to find him staring at her unblinking. "What? Is something on my face?"

"No, I just...so much has been going on. From the moment we met it's been non-stop death, carnage, and facing ridiculously powerful enemies. Somehow, along the way, I let myself forget how beautiful you are."

Bonnie's cheeks warmed from both the wine and her embarrassment. "Shut up and eat," she muttered.

By the time Damon brought their dessert to the table, Bonnie could hardly keep her eyes open.

"I think I...drank too much...wine...Damon." She massaged her temples trying to get herself together. "Whaddya say?" she slurred.

"I said, I never wanted it to end this way."

She blinked quickly, trying to shake off the heavy feeling of being dragged down. "Wha-what do you mean?"

"Lily reacted badly to us killing Malcolm." He laughed bitterly. "Turns out the little freak was her favorite." He stared at the wall above her head, circling the rim of his full glass of wine.

"Damon, what's...what's going on?"

"I could have told her to go fuck herself. I could have walked away from Stefan and saved him later, because she'd never let the Heretics kill the only leverage she has over me-"

"-Stefan...? Leverage...what are you-?"

Damon's venomous gaze found hers and she flinched away from the anger she saw there.

"But you're so damn stubborn and selfish." Tears lined the bottom of Bonnie's eyes as she tried to understand what was happening. "I gave you the perfect night, Bonnie. Something your little high school fantasy of becoming Mrs. Jeremy Gilbert could never amount."

"Not true," she whispered, trying to call on her magic to clear her mind. But her magic felt as weak and sluggish as her body. "Drugged me," she realized.

"And what did I get tonight from you, Bonnie? Huh? Shy smiles and coy retreats. Why, Bonnie? Am I not crazy enough like your precious Kai?" Bonnie felt sick, afraid, and angry. "You think I don't hear you crying over him at night or how you whisper his name in your sleep? Or maybe you didn't think I knew about your other journal? The one where you keep reassessing all your confusing feelings for Kai after I left you in 1994?" Damon flipped the table over, careening it against the wall in a fit of rage. He grabbed her by her arms, forcing her to stand. "ANSWER ME!"

Bonnie could already feel the bruises forming beneath Damon's glasses. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from the puddle of spilled wine at their feet. In her drugged and frightened state, a vision rose before her eyes, shimmering in the alcohol.

 _"You're insane if you think I would ever do that to Bonnie."_

 _"Insane?" Lily's laughter bordered on hysteria. "Yes, I am insane. I am deliriously mad when it comes to my children. You took one from me, you WILL give one back to me." Lily turned back towards an unconscious Stefan and shoved her fist through his chest cavity, gripping his heart. The younger Salvatore awoke with wide eyes and a tortured shout. "Give me my child back Damon or I will wear your brother's heart like a necklace and take your witch anyway."_

 _"Damon!" Stefan gasped. "Don't. Not Bonnie. Elena-" he groaned, blood trickling down the corners of his mouth._

 _"Sshh!" she turned back to Damon whose eyes were filled with helpless tears. "Do we have a deal,_ son?"

Damon didn't know how, but as the fog on Bonnie's eyes cleared, he knew that she knew everything. His eyes flicker to her trembling mouth wondering how she would taste. He never once indulged himself when they were in the prison world together. He smashed his lips against hers, swallowing her screams. She tasted of pasta, wine, and chilled apple slices. How had he been so blind to Bonnie this long?

Before he could cause more emotional and psychological damage to the frightened witch a sudden burst of her powers forced him away from her and one of the table legs sailed through the air, piercing him through the stomach, leaving him pinned to the wall.

Damon growled, his fangs extending as he tasted the scent of his own blood in the air. "Bonnie!" he grunted, pulling the table leg out of his stomach. "You know blood play only excites me. Damn," he said, picking at the whole in his shirt. "This was my second favorite shirt." Damon sped to the other room to find her halfway up the stairs. He knew exactly where she would run and it only pissed him off more. He intended to grab the back of her neck, but his sudden touch made her panic and slip. She fell hard against the stairs, creating a nasty gash above her right eyebrow. When she fell, his nails scraped down her back, shredding her dress. Damon flipped Bonnie over, quickly covering her small body with his as she cried and beat her fists against his chest. Her fear and adrenaline had het blood pumping faster to her wounds and Damon knew he needed to finish this quickly before the other lust could take hold. He caged her wrists together with one hand, drawing het arms up above her head. He pressed his lips against hers again, not bothering to taste her now. This time, he meant to kill her.

Bonnie's eyes widened in cruel understanding as her heart pounded too fast and her lungs burned, desperate for the air Damon so greedily consumed. Large tears dropped from her eyelids as she realized this was it. Her best friend was actually killing her.

 _"One of my children will be keeping a close eye on you and the witch, Damon. To ensure you don't betray me as your lot are so inclined to do whenever the mood strikes."_

 _Damon's fingers enclosed around the single vial of his mother's blood. "I won't betray you."_

 _"That's good." Lily drew close to him and whispered, "because if you do, my children will go after Elena and tear her to pieces. I think the four of them are strong enough to bypass any spell. Even one cast by a Bennett, do you think?"_

 _"Good thing we won't ever have to find out."_

Damon, unaware that his own tears had mixed with Bonnie's pulled back when he realized he could no longer hear her heart beating.

Her once vibrant green eyes gazed sightlessly into his. "Bonnie?" he whispered, suddenly wishing he could take it all back. "Bon?" his voice was a soft and sad, echoing the grief of his childhood when he called for his mother beside her deathbed.

Bonnie Sheila Bennett had died for the last time.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here it is, guys. Chapter 2 of 3 Seconds Too Late. As the story progresses, it will make more sense. I'm feeling like a bit of a slow burn with this one.**

 **And, on a completely unrelated note, who else is deliriously happy to see author Jazzywazzy08 stories back on the site? This one's for you, hun!**

 **Disclaimer:** The characters within this story are the property of LJ Smith & The CW.

When Bonnie Bennett took her last breath, two others returning to earth from their domiciles in hell, returning to life after varying lengths of time spent dead, took their first new breaths.

The woman opened her eyes. She was in a dark, cold and decrepit room. A crypt from the smell of it. She was naked, of all things. Not that being naked in public was a serious issue for her. She had done much worse with an audience of actual living bodies.

The issue was the hybrid circling the crypt. Not a hybrid like the man who embodied her greatest fears, but something else, perhaps even worse. A witch and a vampire mix. Heretics, they were called. The woman stood with what little strength she had, weakly staggering to Sleeping Beauty's coffin as she heard the Heretic, Valerie, chanting. The woman pushed open the lid, staring at the sleeping body of Elena Gilbert.

The woman watched her with growing impatience. She had been promised a last chance to live. IF and only if, Princess Elena willingly bit the dust. After all, there was only room for one Petrova to walk the earth.

"Come on, come on," she muttered. She poked the girl's face and nothing happened. The crypt began to tremble as the Heretic's magic battled against Bonnie's. "Come on, little doppelganger. You haven't done a goddamn thing to help Bonnie, your so-called best friend since the first time you jumped on a Salvatore's dick. How many times has she died for you? How much has she lost for your well-being?" she whispered harshly. "Damon murdered her tonight. For you. Not for Stefan, not for the town, but because he was too impatient to wait sixty years. Is that what you want to come home to? Can you really live with yourself knowing that the love of your life viciously murdered your best friend? Be a good little girl and do the right thing for once in your life."

Elena Gilbert's chest lifted once as though she was taking a deep breath, fell, and didn't rise again. The woman blinked and sucked in a breath as she felt her strength and powers returning. "Thanks, bitch. Owe you one." She kissed the now decomposing body on the lips and transformed into her animal form just as Valerie reduced the crypt door to dust and rubble. The Heretic was so focused on the clearly dead body of Elena Gilbert, she missed the adorable white kitten darting out between her legs.

"Well, shit," Valerie muttered. "Lily will not like this one bit."

Across town, the naked man rose from ashes like a phoenix after its burning. Although, no one could ever mistake him for a being so pure.

He staggered to his feet, starving, angry, and vengeful. Only it would seem that it was more than his own murder he needed to avenge. His... _resurrector_ was gracious enough to show him everything about his 90s dream girl. The images flashed before his eyes on a loop, forcing him to see all that she had endured. The love, the loss, the devastation, some at his own hands, others caused by those who were falsely given the title of friends.

The town was exactly what they showed him. Deserted. Abandoned. Dead. His meal, however, came in the form of unfinished business. A nuisance he once relegated as a harmless loose end. Now, however, the drunken, grieving man would serve a purpose.

In normal circumstances, he would banter. Taunt him as he had so easily in the past. Relish in his impotent anger towards the man who had ripped away everything that mattered most with three stabs of his knife. But there was no time for that. His girl was in trouble.

Alaric Saltzman was too drunk to properly stand, let alone defend himself against the man he hated the most. As he drained the last of Alaric's blood, he couldn't help but suspect that he hadn't cared to live any longer without his wife and unborn children anyway. The smile on Alaric's face as he died and the whispered, "Jo," on his lips, was anticlimactic.

The man shrugged and proceeded to steal Alaric's pants. It's not like he would need them now anyway.

His nudity concealed, the man closed his eyes and let his magic burst through, silently, diligently seeking the witch's. There were false trails, some long cold, some still warm as if she had only performed her spells this morning. Bonnie Bennett's magic was sprinkled all throughout the town of Mystic Falls. The doppelganger may have been the catalyst in leading supernatural threats to the town, but any creature with a rudimentary sense of power would come and stay just for a taste of that magic.

He found her easily. She was in a house that he knew for a fact didn't exist in his Prison World.

The Originals mansion. There was magic here, too. Not Bennett magic. It was darker, a touch more vicious. _Had to be from the bedroom she so happily claimed,_ he thought more than a little bitterly.

He could hear Damon. He was drinking as usual. It did surprise him that he hadn't rushed off to wait beside his beloved Elena's coffin once he had done the deed.

He used his magic to unlock the door, but didn't bother cloaking himself. Damon deserved to see this coming.

They were in the sitting room. The red haze that had been steadily pulsing since his resurrection blazed to blinding proportions.

Damon sat seemingly lifeless in his chair. His shirt was torn open. There was dried blood on his face and chest. Dried blood from long healed scratches made by a woman fighting for her life. He moved only to turn up a bottle of bourbon to his lips.

On the couch to Damon's right, Bonnie lay dead. Her hair that had grown several inches since the night of what he fondly referred to as the Red Wedding, was tangled. Her makeup was smudged and streaked from crying. The upper half of her dress was torn in a way that left her breasts a breath away from being bare. His stomach rolled unpleasantly and he was beginning to second guess whether Damon had done more than just murder her.

Damon, in his drunken state, belatedly sensed the presence of another supernatural. His eyes flickered to where he stood, and in two blinks, Damon lost his shit.

"You twisted piece of shit!" he growled, lunging without considering the consequences.

He smirked without humor, allowing Damon to tackle him out of the room so that they wouldn't hurt Bonnie. They crashed into a table, shattering it to pieces, but neither man cared. He caught Damon's arm just as he brought his hand down to punch through his chest cavity.

He snapped it in half. "My, my, you've been busy in my absence, Damon." He let his anger spill into his magic, smiling maniacally as Damon screamed from his bones breaking over and over again. "I just LOVE what you've done to the town. Got some new digs, I see," he carried on casually setting Damon's blood to boiling. "Oh, and it looks like you've finally decided on killing maybe the only person capable, and might I add WILLING, to save your sorry ass. Busy, busy, busy!"

"She's dead because of you, asshole!" he grunted, trying to fight off the pain.

He chuckled darkly. "I suppose it is convenient to blame all of the woes of Damon Salvatore on little old me. I could even empathize with you doing whatever necessary to save that poor excuse for a vampire you call brother. But this was never about Stefan. No, no, no, you went after Bonnie because you just couldn't fathom sixty years passing without fucking a doppelganger." Kai tsked, casually prowling around the prone, writhing from of Damon Salvatore. "This has been a longtime coming, Damon. And after tonight, you won't ever touch my witch again."

Damon could only watch wide-eyed and gasp as a slow fire rose in a perfect circle around his body. Kai held his hand above Damon slowly forming it into a fist and Damon knew enough about witchcraft that once he did, the flames would consume him.

 _Stop, Malachai!_

Kai whipped his head around furious over the interruption. "And why should I? He more than deserves this," Kai snarled.

The silent Heretic glided from the shadows. Beau ignored both Damon and Kai in favor of Bonnie.

 _Who is to say what this wretch deserves? You, who has hurt and betrayed the same witch you claim? Left her broken to the point where she felt she had no other recourse than to stab you, abandon you, and serve you as a meal for starving Heretics._

Kai's eyes narrowed. He just barely refrained from clenching his fist. "Bonster and I may have our issues, but I would never have actually killed her!"

 _The Salvatore was only acting on his mother's wishes._

"I'm sure Lily didn't tell him to do that!" he gestured towards Bonnie half naked body.

 _No. Brutalizing her was not one of Lily's directives._

Something clicked in Kai's mind. "You watched him attack her and did nothing to stop it?"

 _My instructions were precise, Malachai. Ensure that Bonnie Bennett's heart stops beating should her son fail. Nothing more. Nothing less._

Kai clenched his jaw. "Did he-?" he couldn't bring himself to get the words out. He had watched her death, courtesy of her family, but he had to be sure. The scent of Damon's arousal mixing with the potent flavor of Bonnie's terror was stifling. "Did he...?"

Beau turned to Kai for the first time since entering the mansion. His eyes softened into something akin to sympathy.

 _No._

Beau shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her exposed upper half.

He moved to lift her in his arms and Kai almost dropped the fire spell completely. "What do you think you're doing?"

 _Damon's part may be over, however, Miss Bennett's is only beginning._

Kai turned his attention back to Damon and set to re-breaking his bones all over again. "Well, buddy, looks like this is goodbye for now. Bonnie and me need to hit the road."

"Bastard," Damon groaned. "Kill you for this."

"You got lucky last time, Damon. You won't catch me slipping again." With that, Kai snapped his fingers and only gained a small satisfaction from watching his neck break. Kai slowly walked over to Bonnie. His satisfaction over seeing Damon in pain fading the longer he looked at her. "What about her things? She won't want to go anywhere without Cuddles."

 _Lily foresaw this. She had Caroline, compelled by Nora, to gather all her belongings while they were in the attic. There is nothing left for her here._

Kai watched Beau speed from the room and sighed to himself. He shot a parting hateful glance to Damon and carefully took Bonnie in his arms. He held her securely against his chest. Kai met Beau at the entrance. They ran together and for a moment, Kai was able to lose himself in the adrenaline of vampire speed. Wind whipped through his hair and whispered teasingly over his bare skin. That was as close to flying as he could get. Not that Kai had had much time to test his limitations as a Heretic before being decapitated.

The closer they neared the Salvatore Boarding House, the stronger the desire to take Bonnie and run in the opposite direction, despite the severe warnings her relatives gave him.

 _Please do not allow this night to become any more difficult for yourself and Miss Bennett, Malachai._

"Gotta say, Beau, really wish you'd stay the hell out of my head."

 _Perhaps you should consider broadcasting your thoughts on a more quiet frequency, if it bothers you._

Kai rolled his eyes and shifted Bonnie higher. From this angle, with her head tucked beneath his chin, he could pretend that she had just fallen asleep in his arms.

Too soon, Kai could see the boarding house. This house had tormented him in death, more so than the replica crime scene of his childhood home.

Kai's ears twitched, his keen senses coming in to play so that he could better assess the situation he was about to enter.

Lily was there, impatiently waiting, if the sound of her heel tapping against the floor was an indication. He could hear Stefan who by the sounds of his screams and cries was still being tortured. The Lesbian Heretics were there, orchestrating the torture. Kai could admit to himself that Nora and Mary Louise would have been something he would have loved to watch in their Prison World, if they hadn't been, well, draining his blood at the time. Then of course, there was Lily's very first Heretic, Valerie. She was suspiciously missing.

 _Let us not keep them waiting._

Beau opened the door waiting for Kai to step through. He did so, reluctantly, vowing that he would do whatever was necessary to protect Bonnie against Lily and her merry band of misfits.

They were in the parlor and the first sight Kai's eyes found once Beau moved aside was the bare ass of Stefan Salvatore, hanging by his wrists over a puddle of blood. When this was over, Kai would have to seriously consider bleaching his eyes.

"Beau, welcome home!" Lily sighed happily, sipping her wine. Alcohol was one of Lily's triggers, but at this point, human life meant little to nothing to her. "I take it everything went according to-" Lily froze in place. She had long smelled the dried remnants of Bennett blood. Of course Damon obeyed her. He was too much a fool for Elena Gilbert not to. But how could she ever fathom- "Malachai," she whispered. "You have returned to us."

Kai swallowed his anger towards his maker. She was the reason Bonnie died tonight. "No one's more surprised than I am, but who am I to question the Powers That Be?" he maneuvered around a now unconscious Stefan, acutely aware of the four sets of eyes boring into him. He lowered Bonnie onto the couch, securing Beau's jacket around her. Kai tried to keep his feelings concealed, but Lily could always read her 'children'.

"Still enraptured by Miss Bennett, I see," she said calmly.

"Of course he is," Valerie huffed, suddenly appearing in the room. She tossed her purse on the table, flicking her hair from her eyes. "It matters not that she fed him to us, dear Malachai will always crave what she will never give."

Kai turned to Valerie with a wry smirk. "Val! How good to see you again. Still the bitter bitch you were in 1903?"

Valerie's smile was acerbic. "Still letting the witch carry your balls in her purse?" she chirped pleasantly.

"Listen to the language you've picked up since my untimely demise. How are you still single again?"

"Children, children!" Lily intervened before Valerie could retort. "There will be time enough for your amusing, yet petty squabbles. Valerie, dear, did you fetch Miss Gilbert as I asked?"

Valerie's expression morphed to one of regret. "I did break the witch's spell like you asked, it was surprisingly taxing, actually."

"That's my girl," Kai said, smiling down at Bonnie's still form.

Valerie pointedly ignored him. "But when I found the doppelganger's coffin, it was already open and..."

"And what?" Lily asked, impatiently.

"She was dead. Her body was decomposing. Neither the witch's spell nor my counter should have caused this."

Lily turned to Kai. "Do you know something about this, Malachai? My tricky, tricky son?" she glided closer to him, her face wiped clean of emotions. It was YOUR spell, after all."

Kai began to think. That wasn't a part of his spell at all. Once Bonnie's heart stopped, Sleeping Beauty should have opened her eyes.

...unless this was one of the effects of his resurrection. But that didn't make sense. The Bennett witches, even at their worst, were all about balance. If Bonnie died, he was allowed return to the living realm. If Elena Gilbert died...someone else must have come back as well.

Valerie hissed at him, suddenly clutching his throat. "What did you do?"

"Valerie!" Lily gasped, appalled. As if sudden psychotic behavior was a recessive trait from those in her bloodline. "Malachai is your brother, release him at once!"

"He has done something, Lily," she said, refusing to let go. "I can no longer HEAR him."

Lily's suspicious blue eyes narrowed on Kai who maintained his self-control when really he wanted to twist off Valerie's head, shove it up Lily's ass, take his witch, and get the fuck away from Mystic Falls as fast as he could.

"Valerie's right," Nora stepped forward. "I cannot hear his thoughts either."

"Nor I," her lover, Mary Louise echoed.

"And what of you, Beau? Are Malachai's thoughts silent to you as well?"

Kai and Beau's eyes met across the room. Beau could hear his thoughts fine a few minutes ago. Oh, he bet the other Heretics would just love that! Beau turned to Lily and nodded affirming.

"Explain yourself," Lily demanded.

"I haven't done a thing to block my thoughts. It must be a side effect" - _perk - "_ of my resurrection. As for Elena's death, nothing in my spell should have killed her." And for good measure, Kai burned Valerie's hand to the point of blistering. She jerked back with a hiss, glaring at him as she retreated to go sulk in her room.

Lily pursed her lips, unsatisfied, but then her gaze fell on her youngest son. "Release Stefan and return him to his brother," she advised the couple. "Then come straight back. We need to find some food for the Bennett witch."

"And what if the others attempt to come for her?"

"They will. It is only a matter of when. And should Damon try tonight, kindly inform him that we will happily return her to him in pieces."

The two Heretics unchained Stefan and ran from the boarding house.

Kai sped towards an unimpressed Lily. "Let's not do this, Lils," he said recklessly, hoping to provoke her. "You didn't order Damon to murder his best witch friend just so you can kill her again."

"Are you so sure?" she raised a single brow. "That witch has been a thorn in my side long enough. She purposely kept me from my family, she undermined my attempts at freeing them, SHE KILLED MY SON!" Lily screamed, her tears spilling down her cheeks. She turned to the mantle where the urn sit. Her fingers lightly tracing the intricately carved letters of Malcolm's name. The other Heretics had tried for days to reanimate him, until Lily, tired of the heartbreak ordered his remains burned. "She killed my Malcolm. And she deserves nothing more than to suffer until I decide otherwise."

"She may have had a hand in killing Malcolm, but it was Damon who did the deed. Damon. Not Bonnie."

"An accomplice is as guilty as the murderer, Malachai."

"And now she is just as much of your blood as he was. Just as I am." Lily turned away from Malcolm's urn, and Kai knew he had her. "You lost Malcolm, true enough, but in his death you gained two more children. Another son and a new daughter."

"A new daughter?" she echoed, walking past Kai towards Bonnie, unaware that his fingers itched to put as much physical distance between the two as possible. Lily kneeled beside the couch, gently petting Bonnie's hair. "A new little girl," she cooed.

"But you have to give her the chance to redeem herself for the sins of her former life."

"Yes, yes, you are right, of course." She stood in a single fluid motion, drying her tears. "Take her upstairs, Malachai. While I would like for the family to surround her as she wakes, it will be enough of a shock to her when she remembers how she came to be a part of my bloodline."

Kai, not willing to wait and see if Lily would have another meltdown, quickly but carefully, gathered Bonnie in his arms again and rushed towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Malachai?" he stiffened, looking back at Lily warily. "I advise you to see to it that Miss Bennett completes her transition. Because if I have to climb those stairs and force the blood down her throat myself, in the immortal words of my eldest son, I will have no other recourse than to dot, dot, dot."

Kai nodded stiffly and put her in what used to be his old room in the Prison World's boarding house. Beau entered silently, bringing three bags filled with Bonnie's belongings, including her bear Cuddles, and her grimoire.

"She's going to hate this," Kai muttered. "When I was stalking them in the Prison World, Bonnie and Damon would get plastered on bourbon and confess their biggest secrets by the firelight. You know what was Bonnie's greatest fear? It wasn't not being strong enough to save everyone. It wasn't being a failure in a long line of notoriously powerful witches. Hell, it wasn't even dying because one of her gang had gotten themselves too deep to save themselves. It was becoming a vampire. Becoming the one thing that had been the source of so much grief in her life starting from when she was just a child." Kai laughed without humor. "It's funny. I always knew that I was beneath Bonnie Bennett. And when I bartered your lives for Lily's blood, I did it because I hoped that the revulsion, that the disgust and hate I was sure to see in her eyes would make me forget. Make me forget the warmth of her hand against my chest, being the first person willingly touching me in eighteen years. It was supposed to wash away the memory of stabbing her and leaving her behind. The hurt and betrayal in her eyes as I left her bleeding out on the front lawn of my childhood home. I can't even blame it on the merge because my mind and my emotions were my own back then. This witch, this five foot two witch made me both human and monster, and I don't know how I'm supposed to force her to exist as the one thing that's hurt her the most."

Beau, who had been listening with his arms tucked across his chest, stepped forward and squeezed his shoulder. _You will not force her because it is not your will. You will help her because it must be so. Do not allow all she has accomplished and every pain she has suffered to become meaningless, Malachai._

Beau left the room, leaving Kai to watch over his witch until she would rise.


End file.
